The proposals were set to come before the St. Tammany Parish Zoning Commission on Tuesday night, but officials and the attorney for the developers agreed to meet first with the public to explain the dual projects and gather input before moving forward. The meeting will take place July 20 at 6 p.m. in the St. Tammany Parish Council's chambers on Koop Drive near Mandeville.

The larger project -- the residential neighborhood -- would be located on 358 acres southeast of I-12 and 1088. The development would contain 603 homes, with 140 being single-family homes, 339 being smaller patio homes and 124 being townhouses, according to the proposal.

The project would leave almost 203 acres, or nearly 57 percent of the development, as green space with both active and passive recreational uses, including a pool, tennis court, clubhouse and walking trail. It also would impact 191 acres of various types of wetlands, with roughly half of the homes proposed to be located within wetlands, though significant wetlands also would be preserved, said Jeff Schoen, the attorney representing the Weyerhauser Real Estate Development Co., which is developing the project.

Schoen said Thursday that the public comment period on the project's required wetlands permit has passed, and Weyerhauser is close to obtaining the permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The project, which would include central water and sewer, would require a zoning change from A-2, which allows one unit per acre, to A-3, which allows two units per acre, with a Planned Unit Development overlay. The housing density for the project would be 1.7 units per acre, or less than many PUDs built in unincorporated St. Tammany in the past six or eight years, Schoen said.

The smaller project -- the office park -- would be located on 30 acres just north of the residential development, and south and east of Maple Street and Loretta Drive, in a campus-like setting, according to the proposal. It, too, would require a zoning change, from A-2 to PBC-1, also known as a Planned Business Campus.

The parish's planning department sought a community meeting on the proposal because it does not meet the parish's future land use plan, which calls for the area to be developed with residential uses. The planners also are concerned because the PBC-1 district allows buildings as high as 100 feet, which could affect the homes along Maple and Loretta.

Schoen, who also is representing Land Holding Co. LLC, which is seeking to build the office park, said his client is willing to sign a deed restriction that limits the height of the buildings in the office park to three stories in an effort to allay any concerns about building height that the nearby residents might have.

The one common thread with regard to the two projects is that the developers would partner to build a four-lane, median-separated, entrance road that would lead from 1088 through the office park and into the new neighborhood, Schoen said. He noted that the overall look would be similar to the Northpark development on U.S. 190 near Covington.